St. Stephen youngster makes a fishing memory

Photo Provided
Matt Crawford, 10, of St. Stephen and a student at St. John's Christian Academy, hauled in this eight-pound bass from a pond in Hemingway last week.

There are two rules about fishing. First, never divulge the location of your prize fishing hole.

Second, never let the truth stand in the way of a good story.

When it comes to fishing and the one that got away, half the lies fishermen tell aren’t even true.

For 10-year-old Matt Crawford of St. Stephen and his fish story, no embellishment is necessary. The St. John’s Christian Academy student hauled in his prize catch, an eight-pound bass, out of a pond in Hemingway last week.

Summer was coming to an end, and after an entire summer’s frustration, Matt’s frustration was showing.

“Matt kept saying, ‘I want to catch a big fish,’” said grandmother Barbara Schipmann, who has a fishing pond located on her St. Stephen property. “He would fish our pond every day and he wasn’t catching anything.

“So, we hit the road.”

Crawford packed up his fishing gear and they made the trip to the Hemingway home of their former pastor, who likewise had a small fishing pond on his property.

“Matt jumped out of the car and took off for the pond,” Schipmann said. “He cast his bait on into the middle of the pond and began to reel it in when this big fish hit.”

Schipmann said her grandson battled the big lunker like a pro.

“The fish would take off this way and Matt would reel hard and run with him. The fish was so big it nearly bent his pole in half.”

After several minutes of battling the bass, Crawford was able to land his catch. He ran up to the house hollering, “Look what I caught! I caught a fish!”

The prize bass was nearly as large as the fisherman that caught him.

“He could barely hold him up,” Schipmann said with a laugh.

To commemorate the prize catch, Schipmann plans to have the 8-pound bass stuffed and mounted.

“It cost me $280 and I didn’t even get to eat the bass,” Schipmann said.

As for Matt Crawford’s angling expertise, not even Bill Dance has anything on this 10-year old.

And that’s no tall tale.

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